Tolerance cannot be measured in terms of degrees of intolerance. I am essentially opposed to burning books even when they incite others to violence. But freedom is either an absolute or it is conditioned on not inciting others to violence. Anything else is rationalized bigotry.

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Saturday, August 23, 2014

Palestine & the UN a Deal made in Hell

If Palestinian demands are a problem for Israel, it is
only because we are trapped on a merry-go-round of Arab creation that defines
the conflict in terms of singular Arab injustice without reference to our own
past.There are those who view all
history as no more than a point of view. The fascists will remind us that one
persons history is another persons mythology.That is no more than cant, humbug and an ethically neutral convenience
for fools.Nor is history the
mistranslation of historical documents to suit a particular narrative
preference. That is the stuff from which an Orwellian future controlled by
bigots is made.A brief recap of
history – from our side is therefore in order.

In 634 CE the conquest of Israel began
with Mohammed’s successor Abu Bakr.What
imperial Rome
had begun, the Arab horde finished.Co-existence which was, until the 7th Century CE a relatively
(usually) benign accommodation between native Jews and Christians was
substituted for an Arab conquest that rapidly left the land desolate, lawless,
a place of destruction and despair.But
the Arab conquerors built some nice mosques (such as the Dome of the Rock). A
conquering power stamps its domination on a nations psyche by creating an architecturally
imposing physical presence.While the
indigenous Israelites starved it was important to supplant the local ethnic
cultural symbols with those of the replacement authority.

In spite of the Roman destruction, Christian
dominance, the Muslim degradation of minorities under its control, successive
invasions by (in order of conquest): Arab Caliphates, Crusaders, Ayyubids,
Mamluks, Ottomans and finally, the British Mandate for Palestine,
Jews never completely abandoned Israel.It has always been our spiritual home even
when, as a minority in Israel,
we were persecuted.

The return to Israel has been continuous,
hampered only by natural disasters and human infamy. Starting with the Karaites in
the Tenth Century CE, Jews returned in relatively large numbers all the way
through to what is termed “The First Aliyah” in 1882.The ‘other’ immigration that as a
consequence of Jewish immigration accelerated once Britain
took control of the territory was the Arab immigration to Palestine. Up to half a million people
slipped into Palestine while Britain tried
it’s hardest to keep Jews out, even as the Shoah cast its deadly shadow over
European Jewry.

Three important statements that we must never
forget but equally important, that we must never allow anyone else to forget:

The
imprimatur of United Nations (UN) approval was important but not crucial to the
creation of modern Israel.

The
State of Israel would have been born without international approval marking as
it did the Jewish expression of self-determination in opposition to Arab
oppression.

With
the Declaration of Independence by Israel on May 14, 1948 the Jewish
intifada against Muslim colonial rule came to an end.

But in response to this successful revolution
against Arab colonial oppression the UN created a time-bomb.In an unprecedented act of cynical
inhumanity, one that has not been repeated since, the UN created a bogus
Palestinian identity that with the slightest irony, included Jewish Israelis (but
for a couple of years only).

UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) defines
a Palestinian refugee as a person "whose
normal place of residence was Palestine
between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of
livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. The descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally
adopted children, are also eligible for registration.”

Incredible but true. What this means is that an
Egyptian, Iraqi or in truth, a British or American migrant worker who arrived
in Israel
at the age of 47 and resided there sometime between 1stJune 1946 and 15th May 1948
automatically became a Palestinian citizen by
right. How they proved that residence is not apparent nor does it appear to
have ever been a requirement. If 66 years later (in August 2014) a wealthy
Palestinian family living for the last three generations in Qatar adopts a Polynesian
infant, that same infant becomes a Palestinian refugee and is entitled to every
benefit UNRWA’s refugee status bestows.

I am not going to say that this identity is not
now legitimate or that their persecution by their Muslim brothers and sisters is
not just unfair but cynical and immoral.A conspiracy by Israel’s
enemies have made them a tragic people – and helped all Arabs be something they
are not.They are not victims of Western
colonialism, they are victims of Islamic indifference to fate; an instrument
with which to attack the non-Arab peoples in their midst.

Some time ago Palestinian supporters in the
West were accusing Israel
(and her supporters) of the twin charges of 1) genocide and 2) suppressing the
rights of ten million Palestinians.When
coupled with the accusation of genocide a 1,300 percent increase in population,
over 50 years, was at best problematic. It did not make for good
propaganda.UNRWA’s current position is that
after 66 years there are five million Palestinians under its care.It would be interesting to hear from the UN
what the justification is for losing some five million “refugees.”

Palestinian identity is eternal, or at least
until they destroy the Jewish state.But
this also assumes that the Arab states, in the afterglow of their anticipated
success, permit the Palestinians their own state.Eternal Palestinian victim-hood means ‘a free
ride’, money from out of the pockets of the 19 Western nations that fund the UN
and the right never to be master or mistress of their own fate.The Muslim world is happy because it is a
distraction from their crimes. Palestinians receive ten pounds (dollars) for
every pound (dollar) that Africa’s refugees
receive. The logical conclusion is that Arab lives are worth ten times that of
black refugees.It is an unpleasant
claim to appease but then how else to explain the global silence as Muslims
ethnically cleanse every minority they gain control over?

This is not a class – race distraction ‘fuelled
by western imperialism’ or any other cliché the politically correct ‘jury’
likes to throw around as an accusation against the West. Nor is it a matter of
white on non-white indifference.The UN is
controlled by a coalition of what is bizarrely referred to as “developing
nations,” bizarre because this bloc of nations includes the world’s wealthiest
oil-drenched dictatorships. The UN is manipulated
through the malevolent offices of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation),
the largest political bloc at the UN.When churches, temples or synagogues are destroyed, no UN agency utters
a syllable in protest.When ancient treasures
of beauty and antiquity are obliterated there is an uninterrupted but deafening
silence which is only ever pierced by cries of indignation, mutilation and the
death of many, many innocents, none of them Islamic, when the Muslim prophet
Mohammed is allegedly insulted.Such
breathtakingly cynical behaviour is the reason the UN is the precision propaganda
weapon the Muslim world is able to so successfully employ against Israel and it is not only Israel’s problem but one for the rest
of humanity. While the UN continues to exist, international political
cooperation is no more than a market place for thugs.Cynical exploitation by rival power blocs resides
in the abuse of people to the benefit of narrow sectarian agendas. But there is a simple solution to the dilemma
created by the existence of the benighted UN.

If only nations that shared full diplomatic
relations with their adversaries were able to put forward agenda items or
resolutions that affected either of the parties in conflict the UN in its
current form, as an instrument of propaganda, might cease to exist.

Israel must first tackle the institutional
bias against it inside the UN, before it will be able to resolve the conflict
between it and the Arab nation.